Albert Charles Joseph Simard | |
|---|---|
| Born | c. 1891 France |
| Died | May 2, 1973 (aged 82) |
| Citizenship | French, American |
| Occupation | Physician |
| Known for | Activism |
Albert Charles Joseph Simard [Albert C. J. Simard] (c. 1891 — May 2, 1973) was a French-American medical doctor. He was appointed to the Legion of Honour. He was also active in various professional and academic organizations before, during, and after World War II.
While serving in World War I, Simard was seriously injured. The French government appointed him to the Legion of Honour (As a Chevalier de la Légion d'honneur) for his service. Dr. Simard received his medical degree from the University of Paris in 1921. In the same year, he wrote an educational test, La réaction de fixation de l'alexine: son application au diagnostic sérologique de la peste, (Eng.; Work of the Pasteur Institute in Paris, Plague Laboratory). Simard continued working at the Pasteur Institute through the early 1930s.
Simard then moved to New York around 1935 or 1936. There, Simard was an endocrinologist, as well as a gland specialist in Manhattan. He was a member of various medical associations, including: the American Geriatric Society, the Endocrine Society, the Academy-International of Medicine, the New York County Medical Society, the Medical Society of the State of New York, and the American Medical Association.
In 1939, Simard was elected to head the Comité des Associations Françaises de New York - USA (Eng.; French Societies of New York). That year the Second World War broke out. At the time, Simard was the medical attache of the French consulate in New York City. In an April 1940 report, he is mentioned as a French civilian relief worker. He was described by famed professor Fred G. Hoffherr as "one of the leaders of the French colony," presumably among French ex-pats in America. Simard was President of the Federation of French War Veterans of the World War. Simard was one of the founders of France Forever. This organization was founded on 29 June, 1940 in Simard's apartment. Following Charles de Gaulle's appeal on 18 June 1940, on 29 June, Simard called a public meeting to launch a support movement, stating: "We are convinced that France and all enslaved European democracies can be freed only by British victory and that a German victory over Britain will be the signal for an attack on all of the Americas."
In the November 1940 protest against Vichy anti-Jewish legislation, as vice president of France Forever, he addressed the rally, reading a message of support de Gaulle had sent. Following Richard de Rochemont, Simard would later serve as the President and Executive Committee Chairman of France Forever. On 15 January 1942, at the Red Cross, during a special observance of foreign nations and people, Simard represented France. At the Allied Day event, he "spoke on the goal of the Free French Movement," and for the Red Cross.
Simard would later become involved with the Society for the Prevention of World War III, serving as its Secretary. In March 1946, Simard reviewed Erich Maria Remarque's Arch of Triumph in Free World. On October 9, 1946, an exhibit "France Comes Back" opened in New York in the Museum of Natural History, created partially by Simard. Author-Historian Gilbert Chinard was also involved in the exhibit.
In the 1950s, Simard was also active in the Union for the Protection of the Human Person, founded by Boris Gourevitch. In 1955, he wrote an introductory forward on Gourevitch's life in Gourevitch's book, The Road to Peace and to Moral Democracy: An Encyclopedia of Peace. The first annual French-American Friendship Dinner was held on 29 April 1956 at Waldorf-Astoria, with 300 guests present. Simard was chairman of the dinner committee and one of its speakers.
Dr. Simard died in New York, on 2 May 1973, at the age of 82.
France Forever was founded last June 29, eight days after the Franco-German Armistice, in the Manhattan apartment of Dr. Albert C. J. Simard, fashionable gland specialist and then president of the French War Veterans in the U. S. Other founders were General de Gaulle's representative, Jacques de Sieyes, who is president of Patou (perfume); Maurice Garreau-Dombasle, longtime French commercial attaché in Washington; Captain Roger Etienne Brunschwig, founder of the French "Broken Faces"; Frédéric G. Hoffherr, Barnard and Columbia professor, who became France Forever's publicity director. France Forever is General de Gaulle's agency in the U. S., expects to attain Embassy status if Unoccupied France is ever taken over by Germany.
Chairman of the executive committee. Past president of the Federation of French War Veterans of the World War. Past president of the French Society of New York.
It was among the permanent or long-term expatriates that moves to organise French resistance and recovery were first initiated, following de Gaulle's appeal on 18 June 1940. As early as 29 June, Dr Albert Simard, who was president of the French Veterans of the Great War, and also of the Associated French Societies of New York, called a public meeting to launch a support movement.
On June twenty-ninth, at the request of Dr. Albert Simard, then president of the French War Veterans, twenty-nine Frenchmen prominent in business, industry, science, art, and education, met at Hampshire House, New York.
"Be assured that since we have repudiated everything that has falsely been done in the name of France after June 23 the cruel decrees directed against French Jews can, and will, have no validity in free France. These measures are not less a blow against the honor of France than they are an injustice against her Jewish citizens. When we shall have achieved victory, not only will the wrongs done in France itself be righted, but France will once again resume her traditional place as a protagonist of freedom and justice for all men, irrespective of race or religion, in a new Europe."
Dr. Albert Simard, président du Comité Executif de FRANCE FOREVER, président de séance. Dr. Albert Simard , Chairman of the Executive Committee of FRANCE FOREVER, chairman of the meeting.
Society for the Prevention of World War III... Dr. Albert Simard, a founder and leader of that powerful arm of French resistance during the Nazi occupation, France Forever.
In a letter to the editor published in Wednesday's New York Times, Dr. Albert Simard, secretary of the Society for the Prevention of World War Three warns of the "dangerous" background and activities of Ahmad Shukairy, head of the Palestine Liberation Organization who, he said, had expressed hatred of the West. Recalling the pro-Hitler activities "highest levels of government" of Shukairy when he was associated with the notorious Grand Mufti of Jerusalem.
The appeal was made in a letter to Mr. Dulles from the Society for the Prevention of World War III, which declared that Globke's visit late this month would be "an affront to the American people which could damage our prestige in the eyes of millions of victims of Nazism." The Adenauer Government announced plans last week for the visit of the Bonn official, who was accused by the Society of possession of a "notorious Nazi record." Albert Simard, secretary of the Society, said the letter to Mr. Dulles had been sent to a number of Senators and Representatives.